Teddy Bear Instructions
Fabric: My favorite fabric for a teddy bear is a knit, fuzzy fabric with moderate stretch. Velour is good, as is the current fleece velour in stores. I’ve even bought a blanket before because it was a wonderful bear color, and cut bears from it. Felt will make a (too) skinny bear, as it doesn’t stretch much. Plain t-shirt knit will also work. You will need about a 9 by 10 inch square, or less, for each bear.
Notions: Thread to match your bear fabric. Pins, needles, black beads for eyes, black embroidery floss to stitch the nose. Optional: A small piece of felt for a vest, and trims for the vest.
1. Fold bear fabric to form a 5 inch by 9 inch rectangle of doubled fabric, with the wrong sides out. If your fabric has less stretch in one direction than the other, let that be the lengthwise direction. (Head to foot line… it’s good for a bear to get fatter after stuffing, it’s not so good for him to get taller and skinnier!) Trace the pattern onto the fabric using a marker. Mark all seams and clips. I usually turn patterns into a template: Cut off the seam allowances, and trace again around the bear. This will give you a precise stitching line, you will stitch exactly on the line. A disappearing marker may work, but on fuzzy fabric, a brown fine point permanent marker will work best. As you will be “drawing” the template on the wrong side, the lines will not show on the finished bear.
2. Machine sew along the stitching line, and cut out the bear with about ¼ seam allowance left. If you trim too closely, the fabric may run, so be very careful.
3. In the front layer of the face only, you will need to make a ½ inch crosswise slit at the mouth for stuffing. The easiest way to do this is to pick up the front of the face with a pin, and cut. Don’t worry if the slit is crooked, it will be covered by the muzzle of the bear.
4. The bear needs to be turned right side out for stuffing. Use the flat end of a skewer stick, or other blunt stick, to push the limbs and body through the mouth slit.
5. Stuff the bear, arms and legs first, then body, then head. Use the stick to push in small bits of stuffing. It is better to push in small, soft bits of stuffing, and let the next bit you push in pack it, than to put in large hard lumps. Wouldn’t want a lumpy bear, would you? Continue stuffing until the bear is plump.
6. For the Bear’s muzzle, cut out the round piece, fold in half, and stitch on the line. Trim the small triangle area off, and what you have left is a rather pointy muzzle. Hand stitch around the outside of the muzzle, and gather it slightly. Place it in the center of the softly-stuffed bear head, with the sewn line down. Start hand-stitching it to the face, covering the slit you used to stuff… leave a space at the bottom, to finish stuffing the face. Use the small blunt stick to stuff the rest of the face, and the muzzle. Stitch the rest of the muzzle on the face. Don’t clip off your thread… continue the next step…
7. Guide your needle up through the head to the bottom edge of the ear seam… stitch across each ear at the bottom to separate the ear from the face. Ears do not get stuffing, they should be flat.
8. Guide the thread back down to the neck, tie a knot, and sew around the neck to define the neck. Knot again, hide the thread, and clip off. The fuzzy fabric will hide your knot, if you use flatter fabric, you will need to make smaller knots.
9. Get the eye beads, and a needle threaded with strong thread, either poly-wrapped or buttonhole thread. Put a knot in the thread, and go into the bear’s head from the back of the neck. Make the needle come out at the outside edge of one eye… put on a bead, go into the fabric again and under about ¼ “ of the face, coming out for the other eye… add a bead, go in at the outside edge… and to the back of the neck. Your stitches on the front of the bear’s face look like this: -o-o- Black beads make wonderful little bear eyes.
10. Bear nose: Bear noses are usually a triangle of embroidery thread, stitched vertically. Think of a filled in “V” of black thread. Of course, you can do it any way that works for you, and I have seen some charming bears with cross-ways stitched noses.
11. Bear mouth: The mouth is one stitch straight down from the nose, and two across, it is like an upside down “T” below the nose. If you want your bear to pout, bring the edges of the outer mouth down a bit more. Tie off the thread and bury the knot at the back of the neck. The vest, or a simple bow around the neck, will hide the knots.
12. Bear Vest: Invisibly stitch the shoulder seams together. Try the vest on your bear to check size. Embellish with blanket stitching around the outside edges if desired. Buttons made with small gold beads are a wonderful addition, as also are little chains that could hold imaginary watches. Lady bears can wear tiny flowers for decoration, or lace skirts.
13. Enjoy your bear! I use the little bears as package decorations for friends, and as Christmas ornaments. One year, I put a pinback on the back of the bear, and wore him as a coat pin. That bear was given to a friend who admired him. The next bear was, too… so make several bears, as you’ll have many requests for these little charmers.
Note: You are welcome to make as many bears from this free pattern as you can yourself make, for fun or sale, as gifts or other. But I own the copyright on the pattern, so don’t attempt to publish or sell it elsewhere without my written permission.
Any questions about the bear pattern, contact me, I’m happy to answer questions.
Love and blessings,
Pattern is on next page…
The edges of the pattern page may be outside your printer margins, but the essential parts of the pattern won’t be cut off.